


Guardian Angel

by DragonsPhoenix



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-16
Updated: 2013-09-16
Packaged: 2017-12-26 19:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/969430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsPhoenix/pseuds/DragonsPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Based on an anecdote from the life of Emperor Norton, this story, which was written for a class project, uses characters created by other students in that class.</p>
<p>Claudine Carpenter was created by Brenda Otis.<br/>Adone Curry and Veronica Davis were created by Shirley Smith.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Guardian Angel

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an anecdote from the life of Emperor Norton, this story, which was written for a class project, uses characters created by other students in that class.
> 
> Claudine Carpenter was created by Brenda Otis.  
> Adone Curry and Veronica Davis were created by Shirley Smith.

Claudine's loud “tsk”, aimed at the stranger barging past her desk, didn't seem to phase him at all. He didn't even turn his head. Honestly, some people had no respect for authority, but what did she expect from a bruiser who didn't even know a blue shirt clashed with a tan blazer and obviously hadn't bothered to shave that morning. If this was his first time at the hospital, he should have checked in with her. Claudine thought back but was sure she hadn't seen him before, and she'd been working the day shift all week. If he'd been in during visiting hours, she'd have seen him. She could barely believe he hadn't bothered to stop at her desk. Come to think of it, his walk hadn't been right either. He'd swaggered past her. Visitors, especially new visitors, tended to be more tentative. In fact, new visitors tended to bring flowers.

Three steps took Claudine around her desk and into the hallway. She watched the man pull his head out of one room and peer into another. “Well I never,” Claudine muttered to herself. He obviously had no idea what room he was looking for. Some people didn't have the sense God gave a headless chicken. What was he thinking, disturbing her patients? She called down the hall. “May I help you?”

The man, big as he was, turned more quickly than she'd expected. His hand seemed to be reaching for something in his jacket but when he pulled it back out the hand was empty. The look he gave her was crafty but stupid. Claudine could see the gears moving as he worked out a lie. Listening to her own soft shoes shuffle against the floor as she approached him, Claudine wished for the good old days when nurses still wore actual uniforms, brilliantly white and imposingly starched. These colorful, patterned scrubs just didn't convey the proper sense of authority.

Standing there like a dumb ox, he told her he didn't need any help. Huh, as if that were true. He was obviously the kind you had to lead every step of the way. “I didn't quite catch your name, Mr. … ?”

“Curry,” he said. She gave him her most patient look, the one that suggested she could stand there all day, as if anyone with a proper job had that much time to waste. “Adone Curry.” He winced as if kicking himself for giving his name. Some people took that whole privacy malarkey much too far. “I was looking for a patient,” he added, for all the world looking exactly like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“That would be one of the purposes of my desk,” she told him.

“Uh, you looked busy.” He glanced around as he spoke. Did that shifty-eyed youngster honestly think he could lie to her? “I didn't wanna bother you.”

“Mm-hmm.” She stood there, staring, watching him become uncomfortable.

“Perhaps you could help me?” he finally asked, pulling at his tie as if to loosen it. “She was brought in recently, a dark-haired woman, found in the woods near her home.”

“You family?” Claudine let her words lie there, flatter than pancake batter on a cold griddle. He didn't know the poor girl, that was certain. She didn't know what he was up to, but with some people you just had to let them know you were onto their wicked ways right up front.

“A cousin,” he said with that shifty-eyed look.

“A cousin.” She drawled out the words to let him know she didn't believe him. “And yet you don't know her name.”

“What?” Mr. Curry looked startled. Really, he was about as sharp as a butter knife. “No, um, Davis. Veronica Davis. I wasn't sure it was her. There was no ID when the cops, um police, found her. They didn't know who she was. I'm here to check, to see if she's her, if the woman is my cousin I mean.”

“There are procedures.” Claudine spoke slowly as if explaining to a child. “She's not the first Jane Doe we've had in this hospital. If you were truly here to confirm her identity, you would have been escorted by a detective.” He blinked as if he didn't know what to do. She told him. “I think you should leave now.”

Claudine about kicked herself later. When Mr. Curry looked both ways down the hall, she should have realized there was trouble brewing, but she had no idea how desperate the man was until he pulled out the gun. “Look lady, I didn't want trouble with you, but you're gonna take me to Davis' room. Now!” He waved the gun at her. 

Claudine did the only thing she could do. “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” Her words echoed down the hallway, sounding like a trumpet call ordering the Lord's troops into battle. “Hallowed by Thy name.”

Mr. Curry's other hand, the one not holding the gun, flew up into a stop position. There was panic on his face. “Shh, lady.

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”

Two nurses and a doctor stepped around the desk, calling out to Claudine, asking what the ruckus was. Mr. Curry took one look at them and tucked his gun back into his jacket as he ran off in the other direction. Claudine's words chased after him. “On Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Before returning to her desk, Claudine stopped to check on that poor young woman, the one who was still in a coma. Good Lord! As if it wasn't difficult enough getting her patients to heal, now she had to keep them from being murdered in their sleep as well.


End file.
